A coalition that opposes biomass energy plants proposed in Springfield, Russell and Greenfield has launched a petition asking for a moratorium on state-issued air permits for the projects and a continued freeze on renewable energy credits.

Organizers of the petition gathered in Greenfield on Monday to publicize their effort.

The coalition, in a statement, said that the wood-burning plants create air pollution and are harmful to health.

“At a time when our governments are in financial meltdown and health costs are skyrocketing, taxpayer money (is) in these dirty incinerators that will poison communities for decades,” said Meg Sheehan of the Biomass Accountability Project, which is among the coalition participants. “The federal government is giving billions of our money to corporations that wrongly call biomass ‘green energy.’”

Proponents of biomass plants say they are safe, provide energy, and produce jobs and tax revenue.

The petition, as drafted, asks the state Department of Environmental Protection under the Clean Air Act “to place a moratorium approving air permits for biomass electricity until Dec. 31, 2013.”

In addition, it asks the state Department of Energy Resources to continue a moratorium, begun in December 2009, on new renewable energy credit applications until Dec. 31, 2013, or until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concludes new rules on biomass greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA was expected to set the standards for large-scale biomass plants next month, but has declined to do so for another three years, said Lee Ann Warner, of Stop Toxic Incineration Springfield.

The petition also calls on the state Department of Public Health to advise the state commissioner of public health to issue a policy against biomass energy.

Janet Sinclair, of Concerned Citizens of Franklin County, said the petitions will be circulated and then presented to the three agencies.

“Clean energy doesn’t come out of a smokestack,” Sinclair said. “The public’s right to clean air and water should not be violated by biomass industry, much less with federal and state subsidies."

Frank P. Fitzgerald, a lawyer representing the Springfield biomass project, said the developers, Palmer Renewable Energy, believe it “would not be in the best interest of the American people to slow down the process of bringing clean, green and local energy right now to end our dependence on foreign oil”

The petition follows other petitions opposed to biomass plants in Springfield and Greenfield, organizers said. In addition, it follows a statewide petition opposed to offering renewable energy credits for incinerators signed by more than 130,000 voters statewide in advance of the 2009 moratorium.

The state Department of Environmental Protection recently issued a draft, conditional plan approval for a $150 million, 35-megawatt, wood burning plant in East Springfield. There is a 30-day comment period, ending April 9.